ERIE CANAL, THE

a canal extending from Buffalo to Albany, New York, connecting the Great Lakes with the Hudson River; second among the artificial waterways of the world. It was begun in 1817 and completed in 1825, Length 36514 miles; depth 74% to 9% feet. The value of this canal in the commercial development of the N. Y. state and of New York City as great port it would be impo ible to estimate. As early as 1795, some unimportant efforts to build a canal had been made. In 1816 Governor Tompkins urged the State to build a canal and appointed De Witt Clinton (g,2.) to head a commi ion, In Oct., 1819, a section of the canal from Rome to Utica was opened, which in the following year was extended to Seneca Lake. The first canal boat ‘The Seneca Chief’ made the trip from Buffalo to New York on Oct. 26, 1825. The first.cost of the canal was $7,143,789 and by 1836 the State Treasury had received from tolls more than the cost, Changes and adjuncts to the canal were made from time to time. There are some unsavory political stories relating to this waterway when it was exploited by the ‘Canal Ring.’ After the consolidation of the New York Central and Hudson River R. R.’s the canal was little used for long hauls. Tolls were reduced and then abolished, In 1903 he people voted to enlarge the canal to afford pa age for barges of 1000 toms, See New Yorxk State BarcEe CANAL., LAKE, the southernmost of the five great lakes in the northern United States, between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. It is bounded on the north by Canada, on the west by Ohio and Michigan, and on the south by Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is 245 miles in length, stretching southwest and northeast, and from 30 to 60 miles in width, including an area of nearly 10,000 square miles. The surface of the lake is 573 feet above sea level and averages from 100 to 200 feet in depth. It is fed by the water from all the other big lakes, except Ontario, through the strait known as Detroit River, and by the Grand, Maurivers. Through the Niagara River it has an outlet into Lake Ontario. It is connected with the Atlantic seaboard by the Well and Canal, pa ing around jagara Falls, and with the Hudson River by the Erie Barge Canal. Lake Erie is considered the most dangerous of the big lakes, on account of its shallowne , combined with the heavy ground swell sweeping it from shore to shore, 800-877), mediaeval theologian, forerunner (or one of founders) of scholasticism; d. Ireland; controlled Palatine Academy at Paris,